The E-Sylum: Volume 9, Number 41, October 8, 2006, Article 16
A VOTE AGAINST REPRODUCTIONS
Regarding last week's suggestion to create reproductions of the silver
Nova Constellatio pattern set, Tom DeLorey writes: "Reproductions are
the bane of the hobby. Just last week I had an excited call from
somebody in Massachusetts who had a relative that had discovered a
Higley copper in some family heirlooms. They were positive it had
been in the family for at least 100 years, and wanted to know which
of the grading services they should fly it to. Fortunately I was able
to convince them to send me some images first, and I was able to
attribute it as a 19th Century Bolen copy.
Besides the torrent of crap coming out of China, the Gallery Mint
Museum copies continue to be a problem as charlatans file off the
shallowly-impressed word COPY and antique the remains for sale on
eBay. No matter how good the intentions of the maker, there are ten
times as many people out there with bad intentions."
Tom adds: "NO REPRODUCTIONS! "TIS DEATH TO COUNTERFEIT!"
[I was on the fence on the topic and love the Gallery Mint work,
but Tom makes a great point. Repros are definitely a problem in
the hobby. -Editor]